The Fifth Child

by

Doris Lessing

Molly Character Analysis

Molly, a large and untidy academic, kind and remote if not typically maternal, is David’s mother. She is content to live a simpler, less well-to-do life than her first husband, James. Remarried now to Frederick, their house is the one David calls home. Molly and her husband aim at an appearance of uncomformity, and they judge David and Harriet’s conventional family ideals. She provides financial support when her husband recommends that Ben be put into an institution and also to help pay for Helen’s boarding school, agreeing that Helen needs to get out of proximity to Ben.

Molly Quotes in The Fifth Child

The The Fifth Child quotes below are all either spoken by Molly or refer to Molly . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nature vs. Nurture Theme Icon
).
Pages 3 – 33 Quotes

She did not realize, as David did, how annoyed these two parents were. Aiming, like all their kind, at an appearance of unconformity, they were in fact the essence of convention, and disliked any manifestation of the spirit of exaggeration, of excess. This house was that.

Related Characters: Harriet Lovatt, David Lovatt, Molly , Frederick
Related Symbols: The Victorian House
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis:
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Molly Quotes in The Fifth Child

The The Fifth Child quotes below are all either spoken by Molly or refer to Molly . For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Nature vs. Nurture Theme Icon
).
Pages 3 – 33 Quotes

She did not realize, as David did, how annoyed these two parents were. Aiming, like all their kind, at an appearance of unconformity, they were in fact the essence of convention, and disliked any manifestation of the spirit of exaggeration, of excess. This house was that.

Related Characters: Harriet Lovatt, David Lovatt, Molly , Frederick
Related Symbols: The Victorian House
Page Number: 12
Explanation and Analysis: